Merry Christmas!

We are now on Long Island for a visit with Marc's family. Amazingly, we all survived the plane flight (even toddling Georgie managed to sit still for 24 hours, a minor Christmas miracle). We're enjoying catching up with everyone again and enjoying the lights and traditions of a northern Christmas. Owen is beside himself about all the inflatable Santas, snow globes, and lavish light displays. Georgie probably is too, but prefers practising saying "NO" and "DON"T like it".

It's been a wonderful and (at times) challenging year, with many new friends and experiences. God has provided for us very well. We wish you all a wonderful, meaningful Christmas, and a joyful 2008. With much love, the Hildenbrands.

Hair conditioning

Now that it's getting warm, Owen asks us to put on the hair conditioning every time we get into the car. I guess he wants more body and bounce.

We've finally persuaded Georgie to accept a small ponytail in her hair. Her rejection of all hair ornaments was starting to get desperate -- her natural hair has a touch of the mad professor.

Georgie seems to be turning "2" (4 months early). We're getting a lot of push back, scrunched up faces, and inexplicable screaming. She's been such an agreeable bundle, that it's a bit of a shock to have her argue with us! Hope she behaves extra-nicely on the upcoming plane trip to the U.S....

Cup Day

Today is a holiday around here, due not to the US election but the Melbourne Cup (one of the world's richest horse races, apparently). The talk of the town is hats (large hats), fascinators (small hats) and the newly coined "hatinators" (medium sized hats). As we're not really hat people, we took a drive instead to a couple of lovely parks in a leafy part of the city.

The kids had a great time walking beside the Yarra, exploring new play equipment, and gathering leaves and suspicious-looking fruit. Georgie had so many things in her hands she could barely walk. (Notice her delightful hatinator). Owen is almost learning to smile for the camera, but as you can see from the shot below, he has some way to go.

The Melbourne Show

We took the kids to the Melbourne Show yesterday (a GIANT annual agricultural show that's a bit of a big deal around here). Foolhardy? Probably, but no-one got lost or ovewhelmed by the crowds, and we all had a pretty good time. Georgie did keep trying to leave us behind as she sped from exhibit to exhibit, but we're getting good at keeping up with her.

Highlights included the baby animals (lambs and piglets wandering around among us!), the decorated cakes, and the shetland pony steeplechase. We got to go on the train both ways, which is a treat in itself for Owen. And of course we got to eat some junk food (hot dogs! chips!) and get Owen a show bag with real live chocolate in it. He was very impressed.

Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!

We've just come to the end of a week of birthday festivities for young Owen. What with parties at school, playgroup, McDonald's and home, he looked rather jaded by the time it came to blowing out the candles on his 4th cake. Still, he had a wonderful time -- McD's being a particular highlight, what with an amazing playspace and 12 amped up kids. We parents survived too (even enjoyed it a bit), so it was all good.

Humility

In his prayers tonight, Owen asked God to make me (Serena) "righter", praps even right as often as him. He explained that I'd been wrong about something this morning and he would like God to smarten me up.

His favorite saying right now is "I already KNOW that". There's not a lot you can tell him without getting that response. Must be great to be almost 4!

We took a great trip to the zoo today. Georgie was delighted at the number of animals presenting as potential hug-ees (see her photo with the emu below: "But I just want to HUG you..."). Owen was pleased by the monkeys, but probably considered them intellectually lacking also :-).

To the farm!

We took the kids to a city farm today, because Georgie is an expert on farm animal noises. As it turned out, it was a much bigger hit with Owen. He loved milking a cow, feeding a lamb with a bottle, and meeting rabbits, pigs and kids (the goat variety) up close.

Georgie was perpetually frustrated by not being able to hug as many animals as she wanted, but she did get to spend quite a bit of time with the baby rabbits (and we narrowly managed to keep them all from being hugged to death).

Owen has announced that he wants to go back every day which is... unrealistic. As Marc always says, the best child-rearing experts tell us that you can't live at the park.

Christow

Most houses in Australia don't have names. Ours (a rented house) does: it's called Christow. We didn't think twice about this when we found the house, but took the chance today to check what the name means. We were very touched to find that Christow means "a place dedicated to Christ". May it be so!

Coffee: who knew?

This morning, Marc asked Owen if he'd like a big steaming mug of coffee (he was joking). But Owen responded with immense seriousness, a look of horror on his face. "Oh no, Dadda, coffee KILLS 3 year olds". Gee, we had no idea.

We're all doing well, Serena is now settling back into work as a lawyer (2 days per week, now about 4 weeks in). We've found a kinder for Owen for next year (praise God!) and Georgie is cutting another bunch of teeth. She's going to have more than your average dinosaur soon. She's talking a very little (Mama, Dada, duck, ball, rain, Owoh for Owen etc), but is speedy and adventurous, running everywhere. And the winter weather has been wonderfully mild, so we're still enjoying the usual range of outdoorsy activities.

Weekend Getaway

Marc & Serena had a welcome kid-free vacation -- a quick trip to the mountain town of Marysville, just outside Melbourne. Would you believe we actually had a koala living in the tree outside our cottage? (And as Marc predicted, it spent its time sleeping and pooping).

We also notched up some major tourist finds -- the biggest waterfall and biggest tree in Victoria. Hey, that might make them the Biggest in the Southern Hemisphere! (Well, probably not, but you never know -- there's less competition down here). Both were 84 meters tall and quite impressive (for scale, look for the teeny Serena at the bottom of the tree in the photo).

And then we enjoyed uninterrupted coffees, meals, winery visits, Scrabble games. Even a sleep-in or two. It was very nice. Many thanks to Serena's parents for the babysitting help.

A new job... and a birthday

Serena has taken a job with her old law firm, two days per week starting in July. It'll be a bit weird to go back -- many of the same faces are there, just 10 years older! Two days per week is perfect, though.

Marc had a birthday this past week, which we celebrated with a luxurious breakfast at McDonalds. Clearly, everything changes when you have kids -- we now regard McD's family-friendly menu and clean play-spaces as a real treat.... And here in Australia, McD's does a decent latte. So, what's not to like?

Mothers' Day

Serena had a lovely Mother's Day, including an uninterrupted hour in a cafe, and a family devonshire tea by the river. Very nice. And for once, everyone's healthy. Long may it last!

Press on, Mums

Serena had an especially trying day with the kids yesterday. Owen was in a tantrum-y state, and Georgia took the opportunity to fall over at the library and get a large bruised bump on her forehead. The latter resulted in two librarians searching for ice-packs, a growing line of people trying to check out books, and wails from Owen who thought (a) he might lose his books and (b)his need for the ice-pack was greater (one of said books had bumped his lip slightly). Sigh.

Serena was driving the kids home, in a rather frayed state, when Owen started singing. Loudly, as Owen usually does. Here's what he sang (bearing in mind that Owen learns these songs phonetically, but it was close enough):

Press on Mums, in all the chaos
Look to Jesus through the tears
Press on Mums, God will guide you
Through those precious tender years.

And in all you do, do it for Jesus
Who won you life and free forgiveness
Yesterday and today he is the same....
All you do, do it in Jesus' name.
(almost shouting) Look toward your Jesus and PRESS ON!

Well, I ask you. Having never heard the song before, I was a bit gobsmacked. It's actually from a Colin Buchanan CD Owen listens to in his quiet time, but he's never sung that song before. Needless to say, his timing was exquisite! The song's on iTunes ("Press On Mums") and well worth $0.99 for all you frayed mums. I only wish I had a tape of Owen singing it in his 3 year old voice....

I love you fish pie

Owen has developed a routine, demanding a full run down of the night's "mama and dada" dinner menu before he makes his night-time farewells. He likes to be able to report the menu back to Marc, but it usually takes him about seven takes to memorize it. Here's last night's conversation:
Owen: Good night mama. What are you making for mama & dada's dinner?
Serena: Good night lovey. We're having fish pie and broccoli.
Owen: Oh. Ok. What was that again?
Serena: Fish pie. And broccoli.
Owen: Oh. So fish pie. And what was the other thing?
Serena: Broccoli.
Owen: Oh. One more time?
Serena: Fish pie and broccoli.
Owen: Oh. Fish pie and... what was that again?
Serena: Fish pie and broccoli. Good night, I love you.
Owen: I love you fish pie. And what was that again?

All growed up

We're not sure if it's because she just turned one, but Georgie suddenly seems quite a lot older. She's wearing some real "little girl" clothes now, and can walk about 15-20 steps unaided (though she'll happily revert to crawling if she's in a hurry).

She's also started getting very annoyed if she's left out of Owen's activities, and is clearly trying to learn the finer points of playdough and jigsaws. In both cases, the key insight seems to be: don't eat it.

Owen can also seem quite grown up, like a five year old much of the time. He's so tall, and talks a hundred miles a minute like his mum. He even throws in the occasional weird word -- the other day he said "that surely isn't right" :-). But then he'll remind us he's only three by throwing a colossal tantrum. Or a few tantrums -- he's not stingy with them. But he's mostly pretty fun.

Happy Birthday, Georgie!

Georgie turns 1 today. She seems a bit bemused about this new song we keep singing at her ("Happy Birthday"), but otherwise is having a lovely day. Owen is looking forward to opening Georgie's presents. (We told him that isn't how it works, but he's yet to be convinced).
We're also enjoying some torrential rain, which seems to have rescued us from experiencing the driest March on record. After 3 weeks of no rain, we're now at average levels and may even get to above average. The trees are thankful.

Happy Easter

Easter is a 4 day holiday in Australia! We enjoyed a wonderful, moving service at St Mary's on Good Friday morning. And we've been consuming our share of hot cross buns.

Georgie discovered chocolate this week -- Serena let her hold a foil-wrapped egg for a few minutes and was looking in the wrong direction when Georgie bit through the foil and sucked down some of the chocolate. While the egg was speedily confiscated (to Georgie's great displeasure), the merest glimpse of colored foil now triggers a baby mutiny. Oops.

First steps

Georgie's taken her first steps in the past week or so. A couple of days ago, she took more than 10 (consecutive) steps on her own. It helped that she had a drink coaster in each hand, distracting her from what was going on with the legs.

The photo shows her with a walker we borrowed from the toy library. Her love for this toy is only surpassed by Owen's -- he takes it for long spins up and down the hallway, and can't quite understand why we aren't more excited with his walking prowess. But, well, he is three. We figure he should be pretty stable in the walking department. Georgie's steps earn a bit more enthusiasm on the parental front.

Zoo

Mandy Hildenbrand is visiting us, which is great, so we've been doing a few touristy things. Last week, Mandy & Serena & the kids took a trip to the zoo -- Owen especially liked the elephants, orangutans and meerkats. We went to the beach for the weekend, and have done a lot of traveling by train, tram and automobile.

One of Owen's new things is that he thinks Serena can somehow speak on behalf of the voiceless (namely Georgie and his extensive collection of stuffed animals), so she's sometimes asked to respond in as many as 5 or 6 funny voices in the space of 10 mins. "Percy?"... "Yes, Owen". "Monkey?"..."Here, Owen" etc etc. And he gets very annoyed if the voices are the same: "No, I was speaking to Monkey, not Percy". Sigh!

Thomas

Saturday was a beautiful day, and we drove into the nearby hills to ride a steam engine. Not just any steam engine either, this was A Day Out With Thomas! Owen was quite star-struck by the whole experience -- unsmiling (as you can see from the photo), silent, taking it all in. At the end, he pronounced himself very pleased, except for slight disappointment that Thomas didn't actually talk. We followed it up with a picnic in a lovely park -- while we were eating by the lake, 3 kookaburras (native birds) came and sat in the tree over our heads.

Georgie has just decided that it's time to walk, and spent most of the weekend dragging us around (she still needs a hand or two to help, but is getting quite steady and speedy). While walking, she "talks" non-stop, muttering away to herself. It's pretty cute.

Tech Owen

Like many 3 year olds, Owen loves machines of all kinds. Anything with buttons he can push will do, but he's especially keen on DVD players, cameras and computers. He insists on putting his DVDs into the player all by himself, and getting them going. He's also taken a few photos -- here's an example of his art. I guess it has a certain something...

A new church

It looks like we've decided on a new church, after about 5 weeks of visiting different places. The church (St Mary's) is Anglican and is about 10 minutes drive from our house. There are maybe 150 people there, and lots of kids. Serena & the kids go there for a community playgroup on Wednesday mornings too. Anyway, it's nice to have a regular church again, and we're starting to get to know people there.

Settling In

We moved ourselves into our new house last weekend. Despite a few teething problems (dishwasher, stove, heat, hot water all didn't work initially), we now feel quite set up and at home. It's nice to have a house that's flat as a pancake -- we can let the intrepid Georgie do her own exploring without baby gates or other accessories. And we are so nicely de-cluttered (our stuff on the slow boat doesn't arrive for another month) that we're automatically quite baby-proofed. We rather like the minimalist existence -- we're not sure we're going to know what to do with the stuff when it eventually wends its way here.

Marc is delighted to find that his commute is the promised 20 minutes, sometimes even less. He commutes with two short walks and a tram ride, so it's a fair bit more pleasant than a 10 mile highway drive (his old commute). He's enjoying his new job, which he started last week.

Serena has discovered that life with two young kids is still... life with two young kids. But she's enjoying the warm and mild weather, a more kid-friendly house, and catching up with friends and family.

Owen had a hair cut last week and was overjoyed to discover that his new hairdresser plays Wiggles videos while she cuts (a very smart move). Georgie was a bit cranky for much of the week, but is now sporting a new tooth, so maybe that explains it. She's not walking yet, but continues to stand... and stand (clearly wondering what to do next).

Kangaroos

On Sunday, we took a trip to a local golf course -- doesn't sound too exciting, except that it was positively overrun with kangaroos. These are not zoo kangaroos, these are the genuine article. So, it was pretty exciting for Owen and the rest of us to wander freely among the kangaroos and flying golf balls, and escape with our lives (the golf balls were far more of a threat than the very tame kangaroos). The weather was beautiful all weekend, so we also spent a couple of days at the beach -- everyone's starting to look a lot more tanned and healthy. This week is more mundane -- we're hoping to move into our new house at the weekend, so there are still plenty of logistics to cover in the meantime.

Australia Day!

This is the Australia Day 3-day weekend, so we'll be heading to the beach for a few days for some R&R. It's been a hectic time for our little family, trying to get ourselves set up here, so a few days of downtime will be nice. We adults spent several hours yesterday morning in a sea of IKEA boxes, pretending to be carpenters. Made some progress, tho sometimes it feels like you're starting with just the planks.

Owen started "school" this week, and seems to really be enjoying himself. By some miracle they've managed to get him to eat fruit there, too.

The race is on

Georgie is desperate to walk -- she's a determined little thing, and now spends most of her day pulling up on chairs, couches, legs, radiators... If she manages to stand for a minute, she breaks into the most delighted smile. We'll be moving into our new house in about 10 days, and we're hoping to get there before she takes her first steps. But it could be a near thing....

We have a house!

On Tuesday, we signed a lease for our new house, and got the keys yesterday. Phew. Seeing 13 houses with kids in tow was quite enough. We'll be living in Armadale, close to a park and shops. And Marc's commute will probably be around 20 minutes by tram (Owen's mesmerized by trams -- we get a full tram report every time one passes by).

The house itself is cute and looks little -- only about 15 feet across at the front -- but is surprisingly deep. The hallway is about a quarter of a mile long, which'll be great for the kids (they love tearing up and down hallways). Three bedrooms, a laundry/study (yep, that combo surprised us too, but it may just be crazy enough to work), and a big kitchen/dining/living with doors to a back yard with clothes line and some space to play. Off-street parking too, which is a great luxury for us.

Our address is on the left, and there are also some new photos. We'll probably move in at the end of the month, but we can collect mail from there anytime. Yay!

House Hunting

In the last week, we've visited 13 houses.... The baseline was set on Tuesday -- the elegant 4 bedroom home that sounded so nice on paper was falling apart in real life, and there was an actual cockroach wandering across the front hall when we let ourselves in. Ugh. Owen & Georgie joined us for 9 of the houses, and did great -- Owen kept rushing in and saying "there's no furniture in this house EITHER!", like it was some amazing coincidence. And then he would busy himself opening and closing cupboards and chatting with the realtor. In any case, we have an application in now on a place we all like, so let's hope it comes through. If not, more house-hunting for us...

The other logistical task was trying to get ourselves cell phones (or as they're called here, "mobiles"). We wandered into the first shop like total innocents, not realizing that our simple question about plans would be met with a flood of totally incomprehensible information in a language we couldn't understand. Turns out, it's all different here -- rather than buying minutes, you buy dollars, which are then eaten up at a variable rate depending on the company, the phone, the time of day, the phases of the moon, etc. Five days later, we're still confused.

It's been warm this past week -- it got to 110 degrees on Thursday as we visited open houses. But it's not too humid, so we all made it through OK. We parents had dinner on the beach on Thursday night, which was a nice perk. And this week, we'll be leaving the kids behind as we go to the Australian Open tennis. Updates as events warrant!

In Australia!

Many of you have been wondering whether we actually made it over here, and so here's the official confirmation -- we did indeed. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. We didn't manage to update the site earlier due to ... well, you'll probably get the picture when you read the rest of this.

The flight went about as smoothly as it could, given that it involved taking 2 kids under 4 and eleven pieces of luggage across a very broad ocean. Which is to say, the planes left mostly on time, we didn't miss either of them, and the luggage came too. And that was pretty much our fondest hope for the day. A few things didn't go as well. Airport security confiscated our sunscreen and a large bottle of Georgie's favorite diaper lotion (it was supposed to be in checked baggage, but well, eleven pieces of luggage!!). More of a problem, Owen developed some kind of stomach bug that had him vomit on both plane flights AND in the airport. Nice. The really well prepared parent might bring two changes of clothing (we only had one), but I defy any parent to be so Boy Scouty as to bring three changes. Owen deplaned in Melbourne wearing just his stripy pajamas (and he was frankly lucky to have those).

Perhaps due to the sickness, Owen worked himself into a state of extreme tantrum on the cross-Pacific leg, which resulted in him receiving serious talkings-to in the bathroom from each parent at one time or another. We can now confirm that the bathrooms are not very well sound-proofed -- a three year old's defiant screams still travel through the locked door to every corner of the plane. Lucky we'll never be seeing any of those people again :-).

Serena's parents met us on arrival and took us straight to the beach. By that point, Serena had Owen's stomach bug too, and Owen had developed pink eye. Georgie was still on antibiotics from her last-minute ear infection (which we just caught in time for her to fly), so we were a sorry lot. But it's amazing what a few days of sunshine and comparative relaxation can do. We're now all in one piece (well, four pieces) and busy trying to find ourselves a place to live. We'll keep our contact details updated (that's them, scroll up and to the left).

Photos will follow soon -- we've been lousy about remembering to bring the camera with us to record all these pink-eyed moments. We're missing those of you from Boston and New York, but looking forward to catching up with those of you down here.